I've been waiting for official results to link to before I wrote this post about the Hamot race this Sunday, but...alas...it's Tuesday at 2 p.m and results are still not posted at the ERC's Web site. When they are, I'll post them here.

We lucked out -- weather-wise -- on race day. It was fairly cool and not too humid -- that changed at some point during the race because it definitely got hotter and more humid (or maybe it's just that we were all working so hard, eh?).

I signed up for the 10K and hoped to keep near my 5K pace of 7:30 minutes for a 46 to 47-minute finish. I stayed mostly on pace, but started to falter at the end when something happened to me that has never happened to me in 10 years of racing (excuse me for being crude, but...) -- I had to pee, in a bad way.(Note to self: Do not drink entire bottle of water on the way to the race!).

Suffice to say, I was distracted and uncomfortable and just wanted the stupid race over -- which might have actually made me run a little faster. :-)

I finished in 47:31 (I think)...which is not a P.R., but not far off one for me. All in all, I was happy.

I saw lots and lots of friends there. Most said they, too, had a good race. Must've been the cooler weather!

I needed to get in a couple more miles, so I ran up to see the chalk walk (the best time to visit the Celebrate Erie chalk walk is at 9 a.m. Sunday) and got back in time to see the kid's races which are always sooooo much fun. The older kids are actually competitive and the younger kids are just adorable toddling down the road.

This year, they had a 1/4 mile kids race around the block and that was fun, too. Kids of any age could do the 1/4 mile and the first two back were girls. Go ladies! (Wait...they'll be my competition in a few short years...).